You, Plural
by Roses of Sharon
Summary: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. A friendship to rival love. And a love to rival war. NaruSakuSasu.


Summary: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura

Summary: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. A friendship to rival love. And a love to rival war. NaruSakuSasu.

Warnings: grey, threesomes

You, Plural

They're always sent on missions as a team. Always the three of them, sometimes Kakashi, sometimes Sai. Never anyone else. It doesn't matter what mission it is, and they take every mission they can get. Month-long surveillances in Mist, where traveling as a trio rather than solo is three minutes (days, years) off your life. Medical missions to Suna, where Sakura could have gone alone, but they don't mind sharing the pay. Bodyguarding, assassinations, kunoichi missions… it no longer matters, only that they are together.

It sparks a lot of gossip, that they are so close. Civilians who dare to gossip about shinobi affairs – especially the affairs of _these _shinobi – consider Sakura a whore, a slut, a prostitute. Three months after a woman who has been caught spreading lies about the pinkhaired medic, her shop burns. There is no evidence, there is barely an investigation, and Sakura never finds out.

They own a house on the outskirts of Konoha, right next to the forests, far behind the Hokage's Tower. In this house, there are four bedrooms. Sasuke's, Sakura's, Naruto's. And the last, one with a king-sized bed and mounds of pillows and blankets and tatami-covered floors. No one sleeps in that room, not officially, but eventually messengers learn to deposit their messages there.

They don't go out much, not anymore. Sakura has a little garden in the back, that she tends whenever they are in Konoha, and arranges for when they are not. The people see Sakura more than Sasuke, and Naruto most of all, but that does not mean that they are not always together. They are Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura; Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke; Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto; Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. Never just one or the other, just a trio. A threesome. A team.

And for those in the know, the strangest part is that they were not lovers – not until five years after they bought the house, six years after they began refusing missions with anyone else, ten years after Sasuke returned from Sound.

They were friends. They were the best of friends. And they tried to set each other up with team members. _Hey, Sakura_, Naruto would begin, and then he would talk about someone. ANBU generally, maybe Nobutada or Taki or Kyo, and Sasuke would add something like _He nearly countered the Rasengan today_, and Naruto would say, _he just dodged_, and Sakura would find herself going to the man just to find out what really happened.

Or maybe Sakura would sidle up to Naruto and grin and wink and mention that _Hinata-chan really needs an escort, she's going to be all alone at that stupid Hyuuga Clan function she has to go to_, and Naruto would be expected to go and ask her out, and Sasuke would have to go find a date (Ino, maybe, or Temari if she wasn't going with Shikamaru), and Sakura would go with Taki or Nobutada or Kyo, whichever proved to not be an idiot.

And the next day, they would sleep off the sake and decide that going stag was so much more fun. So they would, the next time, and then Naruto and Sasuke would stick by Sakura the entire evening, until she shooed them off to get drinks or dance with her friends, and they would watch her from over there.

They never quite notice that Sakura keeps tags on them, too; maybe, they notice and don't quite manage to care. (Maybe, the later point out to her, they were flattered.) After they recover from their hangovers, they decide that, however annoying going with a partner might be, it is entirely necessary to find someone with whom to abstain from alcohol.

It never quite works out.

Somewhere near midnight, you can find Sakura with a stack of precariously balanced empty shots in front of her, Sasuke nursing sake, and Naruto, flat-out drunk. They always sit in a row, Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto. Sakura blames her position for the number of drinks she downs. They know that it is simply because her alcohol tolerance is so high.

But somewhere between one mission and the next, one day and another, they step into the shower and it begins.

It begins with more fighting than loving, because Sasuke loves Naruto more and Naruto loves Sakura more and Sakura loves Sasuke more. So it hurts, every once in a while, because they are all human and selfish and jealous and just learning to love. But somewhere between one mission and the next, they meld into one seamless whole. One perfect killing machine. They stop seeing only one, and instead they see them.

Sakura doesn't know when, but eventually the sight of Naruto flirting is almost as – and perhaps more – infuriating than the sight of Sasuke's fangirls, and more than enough to cause her to sidle up to him and level death glares laden with sweetly venomous promises at the unfortunate girls. That his arm automatically threads around her waist is a plus.

The first time Sasuke willingly trains with Sakura is a shock to everyone, even himself, once he stops to think about it. But all he sees in that moment is the unblooded civilian offering drinks to her, and he grabs her arm without a though. "Let's go train."

Naruto has always been fiercely protective of Sakrua, but the first time he goes Kyuubi on Sasuke, Sakura smiles and Sasuke produces what is possibly the smallest fireball he has ever produced. That night, it is Sakura who reminds them of the lube, and slips between them while they are sleeping.

_My boys_, she thinks protectively, possessively. _Mine. _

It is not what anyone thinks it is, because Sasuke is sharp, refined steel and Naruto is biting teeth and Sakura is the earth, nourishing and harsh. Strong. They clash, shining, sparkling, willful, and dominant, all of them.

But in the end, they give only to each other, and that is enough.


End file.
